Review: Hard Cover by Adrian Magson

Hard Cover by Adrian Magson, March 2016, 256 pages, Severn House Publishers Ltd, ISBN: 072788607X

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

I have read many books by Adrian Magson and there has not been a bad one yet and he has done it yet again with this latest Marc Portman thriller, the third one in this series.

Marc (codename Watchman) is working, as he usually does as a private contractor for the CIA/MI6 and has been sent into Russia to provide hidden, black ops, back-up for a wealthy Russian businessman who has lived in the UK for many years. Leonid Tzorekov was a former KGB officer but is now sympathetic to the West and is thought to be in Russia now with the object of meeting his old friend President Vladamir Putin to persuade him to be more sympathetic and moderate towards the West.

There are many, however, who do not want Leonid Tzorekov to meet with Putin and will do anything possible to stop him. Portman goes into Russia in disguise and under cover of darkness and puts an electronic beeper under the bumper of the Russian's car. He hopes this will aid him in following the target less overtly then without it. However, there are others who are considering the same tactic, but for more aggressive purposes.

This very exciting, tense adventure kept me guessing right up until the final sentence. I have had the privilege of reading the author's two earlier Marc Portman stories CLOSE QUARTERS and WATCHMAN; I have also read his NO KISS FOR THE DEVIL in his Riley Gavin series and two of his Lucas Rocco stories set in provincial France during the 1960s: DEATH ON THE MARAIS and DEATH ON THE RIVE NORD.

Adrian Magson is a very experienced author and when you open one of his titles you know that the book in question will provide a really interesting and tense plot, and thoughtful, well-described characters. He researches his plots in a thorough and painstaking manner in a similar way to fellow authors such as Stephen Leather and Simon Kernick. The reader can always expect a real sense of tense, nail-biting action and dramatic, page-turning suspense.

I look forward to reading any further adventures of Marc Portman and in fact any new books by this very talented and exciting author. Very strongly recommended.

Terry Halligan, August 2016.

Review: Rage by Zygmunt Miloszewski tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Rage by Zygmunt Miloszewski translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, August 2016, 426 pages, Paperback, AmazonCrossing, ISBN: 1503935868

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Olsztyn, Poland, November 2013.
In the morass of Olsztyn’s traffic system, Prosecutor Szacki can feel his belief in the sanctity of life waning – particularly regarding Olsztyn’s traffic designer. It is a cold, damp morning with some kind of persistent frozen sludge falling from the sky and accumulating on his windscreen. He considers running the lights, but being caught by the traffic police would be a dark stain on his service history as a state prosecutor. He ponders the mishmash of architecture in this once German city as he drags his old Citroën through its clogged streets. He has no great love for the Germans, they destroyed so much of his home city of Warsaw, but he considers the only characterful buildings in this city to be those built by its German administration. This morning he is due to make a presentation at a local high school. He is mortified, when he finally arrives, to find he is also expected to make a speech.

In the suburbs, a woman contemplates her endless list of imperfections. She tries to chose something to wear that will please her husband. From another room her small son lets out a wail. She rushes to soothe him, tries to find a DVD to stop his crying. What has she done with the day? She puts the kid in his high chair and gives him microwaved pancakes with cottage cheese. She’d better put on some make-up, get down to the supermarket, buy some real food and cook a proper meal for them. “Don’t want it!” yells the kid. She rushes back to her son. Can’t believe what she sees. The kid has encased the new, designer-smart, universal remote with cottage cheese and is aiming it at the TV whilst shouting for the Teletubbies. She could rip his head off. Really. But instead she snorts with laughter and hugs him, daubing her sweater with cottage cheese.

Szacki thinks his image represents the strength and stability of the Polish State – prematurely white hair, his “Bond” outfit of grey suit, sky-blue shirt, skinny grey tie, cuff links and steel watch. Standing on the assembly hall’s platform he stares out at the students. The speech looms. He wants to be upbeat, start with a joke, but he realises this isn’t his style. After a long, awkward silence, he starts his address: “The statistics are against you...” and coldly lists the horrors which are the crimes they are likely to commit during their lifetimes: theft, violence, murder, harassment, rape. If they want to avoid this outcome, the answer is simply – “Do no wrong.” The head teacher glares at him and herself hands the framed certificate to the winning student. Applause. Slipping away, Szacki answers his boss’s phone call with relief. Roadworks (what else) have exposed an “Old German”, their slang term for a long-dead cadaver. All he needs to do is go over and check it off as such.

The hole in the road has revealed an underground room, some kind of offshoot from the hospital. The body, lying on a rusted bed frame, is indeed no more than bones. A complete set. Szacki signs the remains off and heads home but with a sense of dread. Since August he has shared his home with the “Two Witches”: his girlfriend and his daughter, an unhappy sixteen-year-old recently transplanted from Warsaw when her mother, Szacki’s ex-wife, moved to live abroad with her new husband and his research job in Singapore. Szacki had found it fine living with his girlfriend and fine with his daughter. But the two together was another matter.

At the office next day Szacki listens to junior prosecutor Edmund Falk’s report. Szacki knows that the rest of the legal system have dubbed them “king of the stuffed shirts” and “prince of the starched collars”. Truly, in Falk, Szacki has met his buttoned-up match. He is just about tolerating Falk’s jibes at Szacki’s performance at Falk’s old high school when he is summoned by Professor of Anatomy, Professor Frankenstein no less, to the University Hospital’s anatomy department. The professor has been examining the “Old German’s” bones and has found a remarkable component: a modern prosthetic toe joint. So modern in fact that this particular one was fitted only two weeks ago….

Miloszewski’s third “Prosecutor Szacki” novel – RAGE – begins with a murder. It’s a shocking murder on many levels, springing out from the book’s first pages and vividly painted as a physical struggle between two bodies – one to kill and one to survive. A great hook. Most of the rest of the novel is written in flashback, describing the events of the previous ten days which start with skeletal remains being found in a basement tunnel in the Polish city of Olsztyn. These turn out to be not only very modern but composed of bones from more than one body and Prosecutor Szacki begins to think he has a serial killer on his hands, one who likes to dissolve his victims in lye. But the cases are not so straightforward. Not all the victims are dead. Some have been mutilated and left to live in terror. Szacki must find this madman soon. Even sooner when the threat and fear touches him personally.

Stitching his crime themes throughout the fabric and imagery of each of his novels, the theme which runs through Miloszewski’s RAGE is domestic abuse, more particularly, the abuse of women. He even uses Greek myth to underscore his topic, when the co-owner of a travel agency explains the subject matter of a poster on the agency wall, a reproduction of Iphigenia in Tauris (modern day Crimea). The myth’s story is told in shorthand: a Greek tragedy, a family tale of murderous fathers, mothers and sons. In this novel Szacki is older and psychologically darker as his Sheriff of Cool stance is increasingly disrupted by his own rising sense of rage. But RAGE is a terrific story, convincingly translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones; full of potential suspects for the reader, full of suspense, strong characterisation and a tang of one of Miloszewski’s own crime writing heroes, Henning Mankell. But this is Mankell through Miloszewski's lens of wit and irony laced with affection.

In an author’s note at the end of the book, Miloszewski reveals that RAGE is the final episode in a trilogy featuring State Prosecutor Teodor Szacki. I have read all three – ENTANGLEMENT, A GRAIN OF TRUTH and now RAGE – and have become a devoted fan of Szacki. If this review tempts you, then read them all. You must. Myself, I shall miss Szacki’s elegance, irony, sarcasm and flawed calm. In fact I shall have to miss Miloszewski's crime writing altogether as he has announced (in a blog interview and a guest post on “Crime Fiction Lover” and “Reader Dad” respectively) that he has also given up writing crime fiction.

“It’s always better to stop too soon rather than too late” he says. In Miloszewski’s case – not for this reader.

Lynn Harvey, August 2016

Heads Up: A Deadly Thaw blog tour

I'm currently reading Sarah Ward's second book, A Deadly Thaw, in preparation for the upcoming blog tour. You may remember how much I enjoyed In Bitter Chill and I can report that book two is every bit as full of well-rounded characters and contains an even more puzzling mystery.

Cover Theme: Flight of Stairs

The Anita Shreve title is from a few years ago and is not crime. Corrie Jackson's book will be out in September and Jenny Blackhurst's book came out last year.

Award News: Petrona Award Eligibles 2017

Here is a list* of books (48) that can be submitted for the 2017 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year ie:

• The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year ie 1 January – 31 December 2016.
• The author of the submission must either be born in Scandinavia** or the submission must be set in Scandinavia*.

(E-books that meet the above criteria may be considered at the judges’ discretion (does not include self-published titles))
**in this instance taken to be Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

More details about the award and the history behind it can be found on the Petrona Award website. The winner of the 2016 Award was Jorn Lier Horst for The Caveman tr. Anne Bruce.

Gender, country and publisher details are also included.

*This list will be updated as and when additional titles are identified.

Published in 2016

January

Stefan Ahnhem - Victim Without a Face tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus
Jogvan Isaksen - Walpurgis Tide tr. John Keithsson (M, Denmark) Norvik Press
Leif GW Persson - The Sword of Justice tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Doubleday

February

Steffen Jacobsen - Retribution tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Quercus

March

Friis & Kaaberbol - The Considerate Killer tr. Elisabeth Dyssegaard (F, Denmark) Soho Press
Lotte and Soren Hammer - The Vanished tr. Martin Aitken (B, Denmark) Bloomsbury
Jorn Lier Horst - Ordeal tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Sandstone Press
Camilla Lackberg - The Ice Child tr. Tiina Nunnally (F, Sweden) HarperCollins
Viveca Sten - Closed Circles tr. Laura A Wideburg (F, Sweden) Lake Union Publishing (Amazon)

April

Simon Pasternak - Death Zones tr. Martin Aitken (M, Denmark) Harvill Secker
Erik Axl Sund - The Crow Girl tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker

May

Torkil Damhaug - Death By Water tr. Robert Ferguson (M, Norway) Headline
Anne Holt - No Echo tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Atlantic
Jari Jarvela - The Girl and the Rat tr. Kristian London (M, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Lars Kepler - Stalker tr. Neil Smith (B, Sweden) HarperCollins
Leena Lehtolainen - The Devil's Cubs tr. Jenni Salmi (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Kjell Westo - The Wednesday Club tr. Neil Smith (M, Finland) MacLehose Press

June

Karin Fossum - Hellfire tr. Kari Dickson (F, Norway) Harvill Secker
Hjorth-Rosenfeldt - The Man Who Wasn't There tr. Marlaine Delargy (M, Sweden) Century
Martin Holmen - Clinch tr. Henning Koch (M, Sweden) Pushkin Press
Mari Jungstedt and Ruben Eliassen - A Darker Sky tr. Paul Norlen (B, Sweden) AmazonCrossing
Jonas Hassen Khemiri - Everything I Don't Remember tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Scribner
Minna Lindgren - The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: Death in Sunset Grove tr. Lola Rogers (F, Finland) Pan
Liza Marklund - The Final Word tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Corgi
Leif GW Persson - The Dying Detective tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Doubleday
Gunnar Staalesen - Where Roses Never Die tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda

July

Emelie Schepp - Marked for Life tr. Rod Bradbury (F, Sweden) MIRA
Ragnar Jonasson - Blackout tr. Quentin Bates (M, Iceland) Orenda
Leena Lehtolainen - Fatal Headwind tr. Owen Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing

August

Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Why Did You Lie? tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton
Gard Sveen - The Last Pilgrim tr. Steven T Murray (M, Norway) AmazonCrossing

September

Camilla Grebe - The Ice Beneath Her tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (F, Sweden) Zaffre Publishing
Hans Olav Lahlum - Chameleon People tr. Kari Dickson (M, Norway) Mantle
Jo Nesbo - The Kidnapping tr. tbc (M, Norway) Harvill Secker (Not on Good Reads)
Kristina Ohlsson - Buried Lies tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster moved to June 2017
Agnes Ravatn - The Bird Tribunal tr. Rosie Hedger (F, Norway) Orenda

October

Steinar Bragi - The Ice Lands tr. Lorenza Garcia (M, Iceland) Macmillan
Torkil Damhaug - Fireraiser tr. Robert Ferguson (M, Norway) Headline
Kati Hiekkapelto - The Exiled tr. David Hackston (F, Finland) Orenda Books
Anne Holt - Beyond the Truth tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Corvus
Mari Jungstedt - The Fourth Victim tr. Tiina Nunnally (F, Sweden) Doubleday
Mons Kallentoft - Souls of Air tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Hodder
Thomas Rydahl - The Hermit tr. K E Semmel (M, Denmark) Oneworld Publications
Antti Tuomainen - The Mine tr. David Hackston (M, Finland) Orenda
Carl-Johan Vallgren - The Tunnel tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Quercus
Joakim Zander - The Brother (apa The Believer) tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus

November

Christoffer Carlsson - The Falling Detective tr. Michael Gallagher (M, Sweden) Scribe
Kjell Eriksson - Stone Coffin tr. Ebba Segerberg (M, Sweden) Allison & Busby
Liselotte Roll - Good Girls Don't Tell tr. Ian Giles (F, Sweden) World Editions
Sara Stridsberg - The Gravity of Love tr. Deborah Bragan-Turner (F, Sweden) MacLehose Press - not crime

December

Anders de la Motte - Ultimatum (apa The Silenced) tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Harper moved to May 2017
Helene Tursten - Who Watcheth tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Norway) Soho Press

UK Kindle & Kobo Bargains

A few more bargains to snap up but don't delay!

Free

1. The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson is currently free on UK Kindle and UK Kobo.

2. Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering is currently free on UK Kindle (but not UK Kobo).

3. Who Pays the Piper? by Patricia Wentworth is free on UK Kindle (I couldn't find it on UK Kobo).

4. The Dark Garden by E R Punshon is free on UK Kindle (I couldn't find this title on UK Kobo though other titles are available).

Reduced

1. Dark Angel by Mari Jungstedt tr. Tiina Nunnally is currently £1.99 on UK Kindle and UK Kobo.

2. Viveca Sten's first two books in the Sandhamn Murders series are currently reduced to £1 each on UK Kindle (I couldn't find them on UK Kobo) - Still Waters tr. Marlaine Delargy and Closed Circles tr. Laura A Wideburg.

3. Today only (5/8/16) in Amazon's Big Deal, Karin Alvtegen's Missing tr. Anna Patterson, Betrayal tr. Steven T Murray and Shadow tr. Steven T Murray are 99p each on Amazon Kindle. (At the time of writing, not price-matched by UK Kobo).

The Crime Writer at the Festival - Short Stories, Episode 4

The last in a series of short stories, set at Festivals/Events, running on Radio 4 is by David Mark and is called A Marriage of Inconvenience. It was on last Sunday but you can listen again for the next 25 days via iplayer or the website.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

Short story series celebrating the unique atmosphere of Crime Writing Festivals. Tonight, a new story by David Mark, imagining the repercussions when a crime-writing partnership, and marriage, turns sour.

David Mark spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with The Yorkshire Post - walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for his series of novels featuring Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy. David was reader in residence for the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival between 2013 and 2015.

Reader: James Lailey
Writer: David Mark
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

US Cozy Review: Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day

Welcome to another entry in my irregular feature: US cozy review.

Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day, October 2015, Kensington Publishing ISBN: 1617739251

FLIPPED FOR MURDER introduces Robbie Jordan who at the beginning of the book is opening up her new restaurant/cookshop, Pans 'N' Pancakes in South Lick, a small town in southern Indiana.

Robbie had been the chef at a local hotel but when the property in South Lick became available she was persuaded by her aunt to take it on. Assisted by her aunt and another friend, Phil, she has opened right on time.

Her first two customers are the new mayor and her assistant, Stella Rogers - a woman not well liked. Business is good and Robbie meets an old friend of her late mother. Though her mum was from South Lick, Robbie grew up in California not knowing who her father was. One of the threads in the book is her investigating her parentage.

Robbie hasn't dated much since her divorce but now finds herself being asked out by her property lawyer, Jim. So all is going well until Stella's dead body is found with her mouth stuffed with one of Robbie's signature cheese biscuits. Not only is Robbie under suspicion but her business could suffer too.

Robbie is not happy being a suspect so decides to investigate the case herself. This, along with recreational cycling, the upswing in her love-life, looking for her father, discovering a cat and running the restaurant - keeps her busy.

I enjoyed reading FLIPPED FOR MURDER, discovering more of Robbie's past as the book went on. There are also many interesting secondary characters and the author includes the local dialect to give the book a different feel. I also liked that the local police were not portrayed as buffoons.

As a vegetarian I have to quibble over the author calling Jim a vegetarian when in fact, as he eats fish, he's a pescetarian. Nonetheless it made for a pleasant change to have an almost vegetarian as a fairly main character.

The second book in the series, GRILLED FOR MURDER, is out now and I look forward to catching up with the residents of South Lick.

Karen Meek, August 2016.

Some 1954 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in August, published in 1954. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1954, pulled from my database. This information is correct to the best of my knowledge however please do double check dates before spending any cash!:

Margery Allingham - No Love Lost
John Bingham - The Third Skin
Pamela Branch - Murder Every Monday
Jean Bruce - A Coffin for Isa
Agatha Christie - Destination Unknown (apa So Many Steps to Death)
John Creasey - The Toff at Butlins
Glyn Daniel - Welcome Death
Eilís Dillon - Sent to his Account
Katherine Farrer - The Cretan Counterfeit
John Russell Fearn - Vision Sinister
Ian Fleming - Live and Let Die
Andrew Garve - The Riddle of Samson
George Goodchild - Double Acrostic
Selwyn Jepson - The Black Italian
Bernard Mara - French for Murder
Georges Simenon - Big Bob
Georges Simenon - The Watchmaker of Everton
Georges Simenon - The Fugitive (apa Account Unsettled)
Georges Simenon - Maigret and the Minister (apa Maigret and the Calame Report)
Georges Simenon - Maigret and the Young Girl (apa Inspector Maigret and the Dead Girl)
Georges Simenon - Maigret Goes to School
Patricia Wentworth - The Silent Pool
Patricia Wentworth - The Benevent Treasure

There are more suggestions in the comments on the Past Offences page.

New Releases - August 2016

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in August 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). August and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.

• Anderson, Lin - None but the Dead #12 Rhona MacLeod, forensic scientist, Glasgow
• Bagchi, David - The Mystery of Briony Lodge
• Bowen, Rhys - Crowned and Dangerous #11 Lady Georgiana Rannoch ('Georgie'), 1930s Britain
• Bruen, Ken - Emerald Lie #12 Jack Taylor
• Celestin, Ray - Dead Man's Blues #2
• Charlton, Karen - The Sculthorpe Murder #3 Detective Lavender and Constable Woods
• Child, Lee - Night School #21 Jack Reacher, ex MP, USA
• Corry, Jane - My Husband's Wife
• Cotterill, Colin - I Shot the Buddha #11 Dr Siri Paiboun, Laos
• Dard, Frederic - The Wicked Go to Hell
• Davey, E M - The Napoleon Complex #2 Book of Thunder series
• De Giovanni, Maurizio - Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone #2 Bastards of Pizzofalcone
• Dickinson, David - Death Comes to Lynchester Close #14 Lord Francis Powerscourt, Victorian era
• Doherty, P C/Paul - Dark Serpent #18 Hugh Corbett
• Douglas, Claire - Local Girl Missing
• French, Tana - The Trespasser #6 Dublin Murder Squad
• Gross, Andrew - The One Man
• Hodgson, Antonia - A Death at Fountains Abbey #3 Tom Hawkins, London, 1727
• Kelly, Jim - Death Ship #7 DI Peter Shaw & Detective Sergeant George Valentine, Norfolk
• Kelly, Stephen - The Wages of Desire #2 Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lamb, World War II
• Koch, Herman - Dear Mr M
• Le Corre, Herve - After the War
• Manzini, Antonio - A Cold Death #2 Rocco Schiavone, deputy prefect of police, Italian Alps
• Miloszewski, Zygmunt - Rage #3 State Prosecutor Teodor Szacki, Warsaw
• Mitchell, Dreda Say - Blood Sister #1 Flesh and Blood Trilogy
• Molay, Frederique - Looking to the Woods #4 Chief of Police Nico Sirsky
• Nozawa, Hisashi - Deep Red
• Redondo, Dolores - Legacy of the Bones #2 The Baztan Trilogy
• Rees, Matt Benyon - The Damascus Threat #1 Dominic Verrazzano
• Reynolds, Rod - Black Night Falling #2 Charlie Yates, Reporter, USA
• Russell, Craig - The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid #5 Lennox, PI, 1950s Glasgow
• Shimizu, Yoshinori - Labyrinth (ebook only)
• Sigurdardottir, Yrsa - Why Did You Lie?
• Smith, Anna - Kill Me Twice #7 Rosie Gilmour, Crime Journalist, 1990s
• Starr, Mel/Melvin R - Lucifer's Harvest #9 Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon, 14thC England
• Thomas, Mike - Ash and Bones #1 DC Will MacReady, Cardiff
• Weeks, Lee - Cold Killers #5 DC Ebony Willis, London

Website Updates: July 2016

I've updated the main files on the Euro Crime website today. Euro Crime includes both British and other European crime fiction writers (that have been published in English); non-British/European born crime writers who are strongly associated with British/European crime fiction (eg. Donna Leon), and crime writers in translation from outside of Europe.

Just a couple of reminders regarding the New Releases page:

1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to the UK eg Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series which was published in the US in the 2000s (and on) is only recently published in the UK and so some of her books appear in the 2016 Historical list.

2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).

As always, if you spot something wrong or missing, please do let me know.

Here's a summary of the usual updates:

The Author Websites page now lists 1056 sites.

In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 2343 authors (11772 titles of which 3020 are reviewed).

I've added new bibliographies for: Stefan Ahnhem, Sebastia Alzamora, Alice Arisugawa, David Bagchi, Louisa Bennet, Michelle Birkby, Katarzyna Bonda, Helen Callaghan, Ray Celestin, Jane Corry, Fiona Cummins, Frederic Dard, E M Davey, Augusto De Angelis, Lara Dearman, A A Dhand, Katerina Diamond, Yvvette Edwards, Lyndsay Faye, Frank Gardner, Mario Giordano, Camilla Grebe, Peter Hanington, Debbie Howells, Maureen Jennings, Lesley Kelly, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Minna Lindgren, Walter Lucius, Siobhan MacDonald, A J MacKenzie, Richard Madeley, Ava Marsh, Valerie Martin, Anna Mazzola, Rob McCarthy, Tom McCulloch, Lisa McInerney, Raphael Monteas, Hiroshi Mori, Liz Nugent, Kate O'Riordan, Simon Pasternak, Marc Raabe, Agnes Ravatn, Rod Reynolds, Marnie Riches, Jane Robins, Thomas Rydahl, Kate Saunders, Paige Shelton, Yoshinori Shimizu, James Silvester, Susie Steiner, Sara Stridsberg, Julia Thomas, Sherry Thomas, E S Thomson, Kaite Welsh and Michael Wood.

I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Lin Anderson, M J Arlidge, Yukito Ayatsuji, Sam Baker, Tom Bale, M C Beaton, Simon Beaufort, Parker Bilal, Harry Bingham, Samuel Bjork, Saul Black, Jenny Blackhurst, Britta Bolt, Sharon Bolton, Stephen Booth, Rhys Bowen, Alan Bradley, Simon Brett, Ken Bruen, Andrea Camilleri, Massimo Carlotto, Andrea Carter, CJ Carver, Joyce Cato, Paul Charles, Karen Charlton, Alys Clare, Ann Cleeves, Rory Clements, Tammy Cohen, Lesley Cookman, Colin Cotterill, David Stuart Davies, Maurizio De Giovanni, Anja de Jager, Anders de la Motte, David Dickinson, P C/Paul Doherty, Louise Doughty, Jamie Doward, Ruth (R S) Downie, Steven Dunne, Jeremy Duns, Sabine Durrant, Sam Eastland, Elsebeth Egholm, Cecilia Ekback, Kate Ellis, P R Ellis, Thomas Enger, Chris Ewan, Judith Flanders, Dick Francis, Matthew Frank, Nicci French, Tana French, Alan Furst, Pascal Garnier, Alan Glynn, Alex Grecian, Susanna Gregory, Elly Griffiths, Alastair Gunn, Sophie Hannah, Joanne Harris, Tessa Harris, James Henry, Kati Hiekkapelto, Keigo Higashino, Antonia Hodgson, Anne Holt, Anna Lee Huber, Arlene Hunt, D E Ireland, Graham Ison, David Jackson, Jari Jarvela, Ragnar Jonasson, Chris Morgan Jones, Mari Jungstedt, Jim Kelly, Maxine Kenneth, Vaseem Khan, Herman Koch, Deryn Lake, J S Law, Herve Le Corre, Stephen Leather, Leena Lehtolainen, Pierre Lemaitre, Howard Linskey, Peter Lovesey, Malcolm Mackay, Michael J Malone, James Marrison, Edward/A E Marston, Val McDermid, Paul Mendelson, Derek B Miller, Zygmunt Miloszewski, Denise Mina, Kanae Minato, Dreda Say Mitchell, Miyuki Miyabe, Frederique Molay, Rebecca Muddiman, Barbara Nadel, Fuminori Nakamura, Jo Nesbo, Chris Nickson, Kristina Ohlsson, S J Parris, Tony Parsons, Michael Pearce, Karen Perry, Christine Poulson, Ian Rankin, Dolores Redondo, Matt Benyon Rees, Lucy Ribchester, Mark Roberts, Craig Robertson, Michael Robertson, Priscilla Royal, James Runcie, Craig Russell, Rob Ryan, Catherine Sampson, Ian Sansom, Tony Schumacher, Zoe Sharp, Lloyd Shepherd, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Alexander McCall Smith, Mel/Melvin R Starr, Andrew Taylor, Mike Thomas, Will Thomas, David Thorne, Peter Tickler, Peter Tremayne, S K Tremayne, Antti Tuomainen, Carl-Johan Vallgren, Luca Veste, Martin Walker, Camilla Way, Tim Weaver, Lee Weeks, Louise Welsh, Lucie Whitehouse, Kerry Wilkinson, D K Wilson and David Wishart.

The Crime Writer at the Festival - Short Stories, Episode 3

The latest in a series of short stories set at Festivals/Events running on Radio 4 is by Val McDermid and is called Same Crime, Next Year. It was on last Sunday but you can listen again for the next 25 days via iplayer or the website. Next Sunday, the story is by David Mark.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

Tonight, a new story by Val McDermid, who is one of the co-founders of the Theakston's Crime Writing Festival, held every July in Harrogate, and which has become one of the biggest celebrations of the genre in the world.

Her story, "Same Crime, Next Year" is set at Harrogate and imagines the fallout from a torrid affair between two crime writers.

Last Thursday (21st July), on the opening night of this year's Crime Festival in Harrogate, Val was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.

Reader: Siobhan Redmond
Writer: Val McDermid
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

CWA Daggers 2016 - The Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2016 CWA Daggers were announced this morning. From the press release:

Here are the Dagger shortlists for 2016. For brief descriptions of each book, please visit the website: www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers

Goldsboro Gold Dagger – for the best crime novel of the year
Sponsored by Goldsboro Books

Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre, published by Little Brown

Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina, published by Orion

Dodgers by Bill Beverly, published by No Exit Press

Real Tigers by Mick Herron, published by John Murray

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger – for the best crime thriller of the year
Sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications

The Cartel by Don Winslow, published by William Heinemann

The English Spy by Daniel Silva, published by HarperCollins

Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty, published by Serpent’s Tail

Real Tigers by Mick Herron, published by John Murray

Make Me by Lee Child, published by Bantam Press

John Creasey New Blood Dagger – for the best debut crime novel

Fever City by Tim Baker, published by Faber & Faber

Dodgers by Bill Beverly, published by No Exit Press

Freedom's Child by Jax Miller, published by HarperCollins

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, published by Jonathan Cape

The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle, published by Viking

Endeavour Historical Dagger – for the best historical crime novel
Sponsored by Endeavour Press

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby, published by Pan Books

The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr, published by Quercus

A Book of Scars by William Shaw, published by Quercus

The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith, published by Lion Fiction

Striking Murder by A. J. Wright, published by Allison & Busby

Stasi Child by David Young, published by Twenty7Books

Non-Fiction Dagger – for non-fiction crime
(Unchanged from longlist)

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
published by HarperCollins

Sexy Beasts: The Hatton Garden Mob by Wensley Clarkson
published by Quercus

You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (You Are Raoul Moat)
by Andrew Hankinson, published by Scribe

A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding
published by Faber & Faber

Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant
published by John Murray

John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman
published by Bloomsbury

Short Story Dagger – for a short crime story published in the UK
(Unchanged from longlist)

As Alice Did by Andrea Camilleri
from Montalbano's First Cases published by Pan Macmillan

On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier by John Connolly
from Nocturnes 2: Night Music published by Hodder and Stoughton

Holmes on the Range: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository by John Connolly
from Nocturnes 2: Night Music published by Hodder and Stoughton

Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman by Christopher Fowler
from London's Glory published by Bantam

Stray Bullets by Alberto Barrera Tyszka
from Crimes published by MacLehose Press

Rosenlaui by Conrad Williams
from The Adventures of Moriarty: The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes’s Nemesis edited by Maxim Jakubowski, published by Constable & Robinson

International Dagger – for crime fiction translated into English and published in the UK

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
translated by Imogen Taylor, published by Simon & Schuster

The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaître
translated by Frank Wynne, published by MacLehose Press

Icarus by Deon Meyer
translated by K L Seegers, published by Hodder & Stoughton

The Murderer in Ruins by Cay Rademacher
translated by Peter Millar, published by Arcadia

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davis, published by Quercus

Dagger in the Library – author of the most enjoyed collection of work in libraries

Tony Black published by Black & White

Alison Bruce published by Constable & Robinson

Elly Griffiths published by Quercus

Quintin Jardine published by Headline

Debut Dagger
Sponsored by Orion Books
The hugely popular competition for the opening of a crime novel by an author
with no publishing contract

Dark Valley by John Kennedy

The Devil’s Dice by Roz Watkins

A Reconstructed Man by Graham Brack

A State of Grace by Rita Catching

Wimmera by Mark Brandi

The winners of all nine CWA Daggers will be announced at a glittering Dagger Awards Gala Dinner in London on 11 October. Peter James will be awarded the Diamond Dagger at the same occasion. The speaker will be James Runcie, of The Grantchester Mysteries fame, and master of ceremonies will be Barry Forshaw, the acclaimed crime fiction expert. Everyone is welcome to attend. For details and a booking form, visit www.thecwa.co.uk/dinner

Review: The Women of the Souk by Michael Pearce

The Women of the Souk by Michael Pearce, April 2016, 176 pages, Severn House Publishers Ltd, ISBN: 0727886185

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.
(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

It's Cairo, Egypt at the turn of the twentieth century. Britain has been invited by the Khedive who is the ruler of the country, to assist in the running of Egypt. The Mamur Zapt is the head of the secret police, a political appointment and this position is held by a Welshman, Captain Gareth Cadwallader Owen. Many Egyptians resent the British involvement. Against this background our story begins.

A young woman, Marie, still at an exclusive school and from a wealthy family is kidnapped. One of her school friends approaches Owen to implore him to get involved with gaining her release. This can be tricky as a ransom is demanded and if paid too quickly could elicit further demands. If the kidnappers feel they are being ignored the girl could be murdered.

The Khedive feels that the Mamur Zapt's involvement is crucial. So begins a slow and tortuous negotiation with the kidnappers. The local Souk – a market place – hold the key to this dilemma. The local women although by tradition they have to demur to the menfolk, times are changing, and they bring their influence to bear.

THE WOMEN OF THE SOUK is full of interesting characters: the kidnapped girl's boyfriend Ali Shawquat, who is a renowned musician; Marie's school-friend Layla and the young girl who she walked to school with, Minya; Owen's officers Nicos, Mahmoud, Georgides and Selim; the man representing Marie's family, Ali Osman Fingari; the scent-maker in the bazaar and of course the women of the souk, who should wear burkas but have more modern ideas. Owen himself is married to an Egyptian woman, Zeinab.

This is the nineteenth book written by the author featuring tales of the Mamur Zapt. Though the story moved very slowly, but inexorably to its conclusion, it is well researched and made me want to know more about Britain's involvement in Egypt during this period. Recommended.

Geoff Jones, July 2016

OT: Email Problems

Just a quick note to say that I am receiving emails but cannot send them at the moment. Not sure if it's the current BT problems which are the cause. It's been ongoing for a few days now. I have asked the inhouse IT expert to have a look at it :).

Man with Walking Cane - Copycat Covers

Sam Christer's The House of Smoke came out in March (UK) and Will Thomas's Anatomy of Evil will be out in September (US).

 












The House of Smoke blurb from Amazon:

Big Ben chimes in the first seconds of the first day of 1900, the start of a fresh century. Inside London's oldest gaol, preparations are afoot to hang Victorian England's deadliest assassin, a man wanted for two decades' worth of murders.

Cold-blooded killer Simeon Lynch has lived a brutal and glorious life in the employ of the House of Moriarty - the most feared criminal enterprise in the world. Now, as he faces the noose, Simeon learns dark truths about his master, about Sherlock Holmes and about his own past. Truths that make him determined to escape and kill again...

Follow Simeon's bloody footsteps through the capital's cobbled alleyways, wretched workhouses and flash taverns as he crosses swords with Sherlock Holmes and the villainous characters of Victorian London.

Anatomy of Evil blurb from Amazon:

Cyrus Barker is undoubtedly England's premiere private enquiry agent. With the help of his assistant Thomas Llewelyn, he's developed an enviable reputation for discreetly solving some of the toughest, most consequential cases in recent history. But one evening in 1888, Robert Anderson, the head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), appears at Barker's office with an offer. A series of murders in the Whitechapel area of London are turning the city upside down, with tremendous pressure being brought to bear on Scotland Yard and the government itself.

Barker is to be named temporary envoy to the Royal Family with regard to the case while surreptitiously bringing his investigative skill to the case. With various elements of society, high and low, bringing their own agenda to increasingly shocking murders, Barker and Llewellyn must find and hunt down the century's most notorious killer. The Whitechapel Killer has managed to elude the finest minds of Scotland Yard and beyond he's never faced a mind as nimble and a man as skilled as Cyrus Barker. But even Barker's prodigious skills may not be enough to track down a killer in time."

The Queen of Mystery - Short Stories on Radio 4, Episode 2

The latest in a series of short stories set at Festivals/Events running on Radio 4 is by Sarah Hilary and is called The Getaway. It was on last night but you can listen again for the next 29 days via iplayer or the website. Next Sunday, the story is by Val McDermid.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

It's often said that there is something different about crime writers - they flock together, they enjoy each other's company and freely interact with their fans. Next week, thousands of fiction fans will head to Yorkshire for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, and this new story series celebrates the very particular atmosphere of such festivals.

In this story, Sarah Hilary (who won last year's Crime Novel of the Year Award at Harrogate for her debut SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN), takes us to an imaginary festival and a character desperate to break free of the mainstream.

Read by Melody Grove
Writen by Sarah Hilary
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron

The Queen of Mystery - Short Stories on Radio 4

A series of short stories set at Festivals/Events are running over the next three weekends on Radio 4 whilst the first one of the four - this one written by Ann Cleeves - was on last Sunday. You can however listen again for the next 27 days via iplayer or the website. Next Sunday, the story is by Sarah Hilary.

From the BBC Radio 4 website:

In the month that thousands of fiction fans head to Yorkshire for the Harrogate Crime Festival, this new short story series celebrates the very particular atmosphere of such festivals. It's often said that there is something different about crime writers - they flock together, they enjoy each other's company and freely interact with their fans. Over the next four Sunday evenings, festival stalwarts Ann Cleeves, Sarah Hilary, Val McDermid and David Mark, will take us to events real and imagined in four original stories that will charm and intrigue.

In this first story, Ann Cleeves (bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland crime novel series) takes us to Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland - an annual crime convention for lovers of the traditional mystery novel. Her character, Stella Monkhouse, known to her fans as the "Queen of Mystery", is an award-winning crime writer who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that her literary star is beginning to wane...

Read by Joanna Tope.

Written by Ann Cleeves.

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

DVD News: Dicte Series 1

The first series of Dicte - Crime Reporter the Danish crime series based on Elsebeth Egholm's novels, which recently ran on More 4 is available on DVD from today.

Following her divorce, investigative journalist Dicte (Iben Hjejle) moves back to her home town of Aarhus, along with her teenage daughter Rose. Dicte soon tangles with local police detective Wagner played by Lars Brygmann (Unit One, Borgen) and by the end of the first couple of episodes he's hoping not to see her again but of course that's not going to be the case!

The two-disc box-set has the episodes in their original ten-episode format ie 5 stories in two parts.

[I'm half-way through the series so I may return to the subject later on but so far it's enjoyable if a little full of coincidences.]

Looking Ahead to 2017

Three debut books/authors have been getting some press attention this week.

Out in January 2017 is Rattle by Fiona Cummins, published by Macmillan. My proof copy gives little away about the plot but does say: "If you only read one thriller this year make it this one".

I have found a bit of a synopsis;

Erdman Frith’s life is falling apart. His beloved son Jakey is suffering from a singularly cruel progressive disease, his wife is threatening divorce, and he’s in a dead end job. What Erdman doesn’t know is that someone is watching him and his son and they won’t stop at anything to get hold of what they want. Jakey Frith suffers from Stone Man Syndrome, his bones are fusing together and he is slowly becoming imprisoned by his own skeleton. The shadowy, threatening character of the Bone Collector has inherited a macabre and gruesome museum of medical oddities. He knows about Jakey’s condition and longs to possess his skeleton for his collection. When five year old Clara Foyle, who also suffers from an unusual medical condition goes missing the police, headed up by feisty Detective Sergeant Etta Fitzroy, embark on a hunt for what seems to be a sinister figure who has access to medical records. As the lives and the fates of all the characters become more desperately entangled, Erdman helps Fitzroy to track down the Bone Collector and restore his family. 

Out in November 2017 is Lara Dearman's debut, The Devil's Claw, published by Trapeze. This is the first in a series set on the Channel Islands. From The Bookseller:

Trapeze has signed a crime series set in the Channel Islands by debut author Lara Dearman.

Sam Eades, senior commissioning editor at Trapeze, struck a two-book deal ... The first book in the series The Devil's Claw will be published in November 2017.

The Devil's Claw follows journalist Jennifer Dorey and DCI Michael Gilbert, who pair up after the discovery of a drowned girl on a local beach and Dorey uncovers a pattern of similar deaths over the last 50 years. Together, their investigation will lead them to expose the island’s historical scars, and to ‘Fritz’, the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier, whose carefully constructed world is now crumbling because of Dorey.

Eades said: "Crime fiction fans love to be transported to different locations, from the wilds of Shetland to the brooding Scandinavian landscape. I cannot wait for readers to explore the island world Lara Dearman has created in her atmospheric debut The Devil's Claw. The Guernsey setting is both beautiful and deadly, and on this stunning backdrop unfolds an ambitious murder mystery interwoven with local tradition and folklore. Lara is a voracious reader of crime fiction and plays with the conventions of the genre, masterfully weaving together crimes from that past and the present told from three characters."

Dearman, a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at St Mary’s University, grew up on Guernsey before moving to the UK to study. Since graduating with a distinction in 2016, she now lives in New York with her husband and three children and is intending to write full-time.

She said: "I was born and raised on Guernsey and have always felt a deep-rooted connection, a longing even, for the familiarity of my island home. It was this feeling together with a desire to explore the darker side of the island’s history - Nazi occupation and folk tales of witchcraft and Devil worship - which led to the idea for The Devil's Claw. I wondered, what it would be like to return to this small, close-knit community after years away. What would happen if, having returned, those feelings of comfort and familiarity so many of us associate with home were shattered – if the island’s dark past caught up with its present and a body washed up on the beach with the driftwood? Sam’s enthusiasm for The Devil's Claw has been overwhelming and I am so excited to be starting my writing career as part of the Orion/Trapeze family."

The Devil's Claw will be published by Trapeze in November 2017 in paperback, e-book and audio with the second book following in Spring 2018.

And out in December 2017 is Jane Robins' Hitchcock-inspired debut, White Bodies, published by Harper Collins' new division HQ:

HQ are delighted to announce acquisition of UK and Commonwealth rights to White Bodies, a unique attention-grabbing debut novel by journalist and author of three non-fiction books Jane Robins. Cleverly reworking Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train for the internet age, White Bodies follows the story of an abusive relationship that tests the unbreakable ties that bind twin sisters.

White Bodies will be published on 28th December 2017 in hardback, ebook and audiobook.

Sally Williamson, Jane Robins’s editor at HQ, said: “Jane has written an utterly mesmerising book that I devoured in one sitting, gripped by every exquisite page. Unique, addictive and darkly twisted, this is going to be huge.” 

White Bodies follows bookseller, Callie, as she watches her beautiful, talented sister visibly shrink and diminish under the domineering love of her new boyfriend. Tilda has stopped working and pretty much stopped eating. Her flat is freakishly clean and tidy, with mugs wrapped in cling film and ominous syringes in the bathroom bin. So worried is Callie that she joins an internet support group – controllingmen.com – for the victims and families of women enduring abuse from their partners. But when one of Callie’s new internet friends is murdered by her abusive partner both Tilda and Callie’s lives spiral out of control.

Review: Cara Massimina by Tim Parks

Cara Massimina by Tim Parks, November 2011, 288 pages, Vintage, ISBN: 0099572621

Reviewed by Rich Westwood.
(Read more of Rich's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Morris Arthur Duckworth is a down-at-heel English teacher in the Italian city of Verona. His life is financially precarious, always one step ahead of the gas being cut off in his flat, and largely reliant on providing additional private tutorials for his wealthier students. Morris simultaneously despises them and yearns to join them as an equal in wealth and lifestyle.

"He loved taking care of beautiful things... Normal things he was rather careless about (his scuffed shoes, for example) but with beautiful things it was different (and that was the mystery in the end, to have opened one's eyes in North Acton and yearned for class and style before he even knew they existed). And Morris thought that when one day he had finally got a good number of beautiful possessions together, he would spend a long time looking after them and get a great deal of pleasure from it."

His student Massimina seems to offer a step up. She is beautiful, biddable, and deluded enough to have fallen in love with Morris. She is the third daughter of a wealthy family. She is also, unfortunately, seventeen, which means he cannot marry her for several months.

Before you feel sorry for Morris, you should know that he is a liar, a petty thief, and an embryonic blackmailer, driven by an unjustified sense of self-pity. In many ways he is similar to Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley (a similarity heightened by the Italian setting). He flunks his crucial first meeting with Massimina's family by getting caught lying about his prospects.

"Morris then very casually mentioned the names of three Veronese companies he was working with closely at the moment... Names you saw on posters and local television commercials. There was a fair chance, of course, Verona being the tiny tight-knit place it was, that either the signora or Bobo would know people in these companies. By precisely the aplomb with which Morris took that risk should prove the clinching factor."

An elopement seems like the obvious next step. But is it an elopement or a kidnapping? Morris doesn't seem quite sure himself. And is the studiously asexual anti-hero actually falling for Massimina?

"Massimina was in a complete mess. Red in the freckled face, make-up all over the place, hair tousled, body apparently quite shapeless in a running outfit of all things. And out of breath to boot - nostrils flaring and eyes puffy. Rather horrible."

Maybe not, and yet....

CARA MASSIMINA is the first of three books featuring Morris Duckworth recently reissued by Vintage. The first two were originally published in the '90s and CARA MASSIMINA is a reminder of simpler times when kidnappers had to buy newspapers to compose their ransom demands and find out if the police were after them. The Italian setting (informed by Tim Parks' own time as an English teacher in Verona), inexorable plot, sort-of-likeable antihero, and relatively short length make this an ideal holiday book. Good fun.

Rich Westwood, July 2016

UK Kindle Bargains

Whilst we eagerly await parts 4 and 5 in Thomas Enger's Henning Juul series - coming 2017 from Orenda Books, if you haven't read the first three parts then they are currently 66p each on UK Kindle!

Also a bargain are the first 4 books in Leena Lehtolainen's Maria Kallio series which are 99p each during July on UK Kindle.

And finally, BritCrime have put together a handy page of British crime titles that are currently free or at a reduced price on UK Kindle.

Review: Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton, June 2016, 352 pages, Bantam Press, ISBN: 0593076311

Reviewed by Laura Root.
(Read more of Laura's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

DAISY IN CHAINS is a standalone psychological thriller by Sharon Bolton set in South West England. The protagonist is Maggie Rose, a highly successful barrister and true crime author. Maggie has moved away from court appearances to writing true crime books, carrying out her own research to help overturn unsafe murder convictions on behalf of her clients.

Her latest client is Hamish Wolfe, a young, dashing, arrogant doctor imprisoned at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, after being convicted of a series of a killings involving four overweight young women. The women were lured to their death by a malevolent, internet, stranger who set up a false identity to tempt them into meeting him.

Hamish's mother, Sandra, and a motley array of supporters, the “Wolfe Pack”, are determined that Wolfe is innocent, and persuade Maggie to take on his case. Maggie looks to have an uphill struggle as the evidence against Wolfe was strong: both circumstantial and forensic. Unfortunate rumours have followed him from his university days, that he has a history of exploiting fat women with his friends and making sex tapes without their permission.

Despite (or because of) the nature of his crimes, Wolfe receives over a hundred letters a month, mostly from women. Maggie soon finds she has a rival in the “Wolfe Pack”, a young woman jealous of her prison meetings with Hamish. Maggie herself has to guard against Hamish's attempts to charm and manipulate her. She also has the police to deal with; the detective responsible for Wolfe's arrest is keeping a careful eye on the re-opening of his case.

I found DAISY IN CHAINS an enjoyable, compelling pageturner, with twists and turns that reminded me of Pierre Lemaitre's Verhoeven trilogy. Sharon Bolton skilfully builds up tension, carefully giving the reader clues about the details of the court case and its effect on the police and families involved. The author also casts an interesting light on the phenomenon of the magnetic attraction of convicted killers to outsiders, especially women.

Laura Root, July 2015

US Cozy Review: Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell

As it's 4 July, I thought it would be appropriate to post another entry in my irregular feature: US cozy review.

Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell, November 2015, Kensington Publishing ISBN: 1617737178

YARNED AND DANGEROUS introduces New York fashion designer Josie Blair who is persuaded by her mother to take some time away in the country to look after her great-uncle Eb who has broken his leg in the car accident that killed his new wife Cora. As well as looking after Eb, Josie is to wind up Cora's wool shop, Miss Marple Knits.

Josie sets off to Dorset Falls, Connecticut with her cat Coco. Her lascivious boss has fired her for leaving on short notice but she hopes that given a bit of time he will re-hire her.

Her great-uncle receives her without enthusiasm but Josie gives as good as she gets.

Josie spent a couple of her teenage years growing up in Dorset Falls so she knows a few people and soon rekindles a friendship with Lorna who runs the general store however she also has a few enemies, including the mother of her ex-childhood sweetheart who didn't like her before and certainly doesn't like her now and definitely wants her hands on the wool shop.

Another potential buyer for the woolshop is Lillian Woodruff who also takes a dislike to Josie, however not for long, as the next day Josie discovers Lillian's dead body in the back room of Miss Marple Knits...

Josie is not an amateur sleuth and in the main is content to leave matters to the seemingly capable local police. Josie has plenty on her hands with looking after Eb and the closing down of the shop and dealing with her own mixed feelings about going back to New York. As well as Lorna she makes a friend in Mitch, the grandson of Eb's neighbour. She also receives help from two friends of Cora, Helen and Evelyn, though she's not sure whether she can trust them. What are they doing in the abandoned shop opposite?

YARNED AND DANGEROUS is an enjoyable, quick read. Set in a cold and rundown town (for a change) it focusses on Josie's journey from a townie thinking about designer handbags – to someone who feels at home in Dorset Falls. There is intrigue and Josie does save the day in the end but she doesn't pursue many leads herself. There are quite a few references to wool but as Josie is a non-knitter there are few technical terms so non-knitters will be fine. Despite the prominence of Coco on the cover, she doesn't make many appearances but maybe she will be more visible in the sequel, A KNIT BEFORE DYING, which I'm looking forward to.

Karen Meek, July 2016

Some 1944 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in July, published in 1944. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1944, pulled from my database. This information is correct to the best of my knowledge however please do double check dates before spending any cash!:

Emery Bonett - High Pavement (apa Old Mrs Camelot)
Christianna Brand - Green for Danger
Agatha Christie - Death Comes As the End
Agatha Christie - Towards Zero
Joan Coggin - Who Killed the Curate?
Edmund Crispin - The Case of the Gilded Fly
Ngaio Marsh - Died in the Wool (1944 in NZ, 1945 in UK)
Gladys Mitchell - My Father Sleeps
Georges Simenon - Maigret's Rival (apa Inspector Cadaver)
Georges Simenon - Maigret and the Toy Village
Georges Simenon - To Any Lengths (apa Maigret and the Fortuneteller) (apa Signed, Picpus)
Georges Simenon - The Gendarme's Report
Patricia Wentworth - The Clock Strikes Twelve
Patricia Wentworth - The Key

There are more suggestions in the comments on the Past Offences page.

New Releases - July 2016

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in July 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). July and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.

• Alaux, Jean-Pierre & Balen, Noel - Red-Handed in Romanae-Conti #9 Benjamin Cooker, world-renowned winemaker turned gentleman detective
• Beaufort, Simon - The Killing Ship
• Bingham, Harry - The Dead House #5 DC Fiona Griffiths
• Bjork, Samuel - The Owl Always Hunts at Night #2 Holger Munch & Mia Kruger, Oslo Police
• Brett, Simon - Appeal
• Carlotto, Massimo - For All the Gold in the World #8 Alligator, PI, Padova, Italy
• Davies, David Stuart - The Ripper Legacy #6 Sherlock Holmes
• Downie, Ruth (R S) - Vita Brevis #7 Gaius Petreius Ruso, Chester, Roman Britain
• Durrant, Sabine - Lie With Me
• Giordano, Mario - Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
• Harris, Tessa - Secrets in the Stones #6 Dr Thomas Silkstone, 18C England
• Henry, James - Blackwater #1 DI Nick Lowry, Essex, 1983
• Herrera, Yuri - The Transmigration of Bodies
• Hingley, David - Birthright #1 Mercia Blakewood
• Howells, Debbie - The Beauty of the End
• Huber, Anna Lee - As Death Draws Near #5 Lady Darby, Scotland, 1830s
• Ison, Graham - Suddenly at Home #15 DI Brock & DS Poole
• Jonasson, Ragnar - Blackout #2 Ari Thor, Policeman
• Lawson, Mark - The Allegations
• Leather, Stephen - Dark Forces #13 Dan Shepherd, SAS trooper turned undercover cop
• Lehtolainen, Leena - Fatal Headwind #6 Detective Maria Kallio, Helsinki
• Lemaitre, Pierre - Blood Wedding
• Lovesey, Peter - Another One Goes Tonight #16 Peter Diamond, Bath
• Lucius, Walter - Butterfly on the Storm #1 Heartland Trilogy
• Mackay, Malcolm - For Those Who Know the Ending
• Mazzola, Anna - The Unseeing
• McCulloch, Tom - A Private Haunting
• McIntosh, Pat - The Lanimer Bride #11 Gil Cunningham, notary-in-training, medieval Glasgow
• McPherson, Catriona - Dandy Gilver and the Most Misleading Habit #11 Dandy Gilver, Society Sleuth, 1920s Scotland
• Mendelson, Paul - The History of Blood #3 Colonel Vaughn de Vries, Cape Town
• Miller, Derek B - The Girl in Green
• Mina, Denise - The Long Drop #6 DS Alex Morrow, Glasgow
• Mitchell, Dreda Say - Blood Sister #1 Flesh and Blood Trilogy
• Nakamura, Fuminori - The Kingdom
• Nakayama, Shichiri - Nocturne of Remembrance
• Neville, Stuart - So Say the Fallen #2 DCI Serena Flanagan
• Nickson, Chris - The Iron Water #4 Detective Inspector Tom Harper, Leeds Police, 1890s
• Nugent, Liz - Lying in Wait
• Rankin, Ian - The Travelling Companion Short Stories
• Reed, Hannah - Dressed to Kilt #3 A Scottish Highlands Mystery
• Robertson, Michael - The Baker Street Jurors #5 Brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath, Lawyers, Baker Street
• Robinson, Peter - When the Music's Over #23 Insp. Alan Banks, Yorkshire
• Saunders, Kate - The Secrets of Wishtide #1 Laetitia Rodd, Private Detective, Victorian Era
• Sharp, Zoe - Absence of Light Charlie Fox Novella
• Staincliffe, Cath - The Silence Between Breaths
• Sutton, William - Lawless and the Flowers of Sin #2 Campbell Lawless, Victorian Policeman
• Thomas, Julia - The English Boys
• Tremayne, Peter - Penance of the Damned #25 Sister Fidelma
• Trow, M J - The Angel #3 A Grand & Batchelor Victorian Mystery
• Vargas, Fred - A Climate of Fear #9 Commissaire Adamsberg, Paris
• Veste, Luca - Then She Was Gone #4 DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi, Liverpool
• Weaver, Tim - Broken Heart #7 David Raker, Missing Persons Investigator
• Wilkinson, Kerry - Something Hidden #2 Andrew Hunter, PI, Manchester
• Wood, Michael - Outside Looking In #2 DCI Matilda Darke

Awards News: McIlvanney Prize (formerly Scottish Crime Book of the Year) - Longlist announced

The longlist for the McIlvanney Prize (formerly Scottish Crime Book of the Year) was announced today. From the press release:

We're excited to announce the 2016 longlist of the McIlvanney Prize
(formerly the Scottish Crime Book of the Year) as:

The Special Dead - Lin Anderson
Black Widow - Chris Brookmyre
The Jump - Doug Johnstone
A Fine House in Trinity - Lesley Kelly
In the Cold Dark Ground - Stuart MacBride
Splinter the Silence - Val McDermid
The Damage Done - James Oswald
Even Dogs in the Wild - Ian Rankin
Open Wounds - Douglas Skelton
Beloved Poison - E. S. Thomson

From the Bloody Scotland website: "The winner of the Scottish Crime Book of the Year will now be awarded The McIlvanney Prize at an awards ceremony on the opening evening of Bloody Scotland, Friday 9 September in Stirling."

TV News: Sacrifice on Channel 5

Scheduled at 10pm on Sunday night on Channel 5 is the film version of Sharon (SJ) Bolton's Sacrifice.

Here is the blurb from IMDB:

Sacrifice is the story of consultant surgeon, Tora Hamilton, who moves with her husband, Duncan, to the remote Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the north-east coast of Scotland. Deep in the peat soil around her new home, Tora discovers the body of a young woman with rune marks carved into her skin and a gaping hole where her heart once beat. Ignoring warnings to leave well alone, Tora uncovers terrifying links to a legend that might never have been confined to the pages of the story-books.

The cast includes Radha Mitchell (as Tora) and Rupert Graves (as Duncan).

Review: Cutting Edge by Bill Daly

Cutting Edge by Bill Daly, April 2016, 320 pages, Old Street Publishing, ISBN: 1910400351

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

CUTTING EDGE is the third Glasgow DCI Charlie Anderson book by Bill Daly and it is really brilliantly gripping. Given the number of police procedurals that are published each year, it is very pleasantly surprising to discover an author who writes in a way that does not conform to a very predictable pattern. His protagonist DCI Charlie Anderson is a policeman of senior years and a veteran of many previous cases. This one opens on an ordinary day in June 2011 when a serial killer sends Charlie a parcel which contains the severed left hand of a victim who turns out to be an elderly gypsy. The parcel, contains a shoe box and in that, together with the severed hand, there is also a playing card. There are no identifying finger prints or DNA left on the parcel which was posted from a large post office in the usual way.

Soon a range of victims are being targeted including a heroin-addicted mercenary and a female accountant and their severed left hands are being removed and posted to Charlie and later the corpse of each victim is discovered. The media are involved and it soon becomes a high-profile case with much pressure from the top brass in the Glasgow police to relieve negative public opinion with a quick resolution. Soon Charlie's own family are being targeted and his wife and daughter have to go into hiding to safeguard them and there are tensions in the team of detectives hunting the deranged killer.

The book, since it contains many gory descriptions is not for the squeamish but I did not think it was unnecessarily violent but others of a more sensitive nature may be offended but I think it is important to emphasise the author is attempting to reproduce an accurate portrayal of daily life in a busy police station.

Could the killer be a recently released prisoner who was jailed as a result of Charlie's evidence? This and many other possible leads are investigated by Charlie and his team of detectives. The locality of Glasgow is well evoked with plenty of references to the Scottish diet and humour as well as street names.

I had the pleasure of reading for review purposes his previous books DOUBLE MORTICE and his debut DCI Charlie Anderson novel BLACK MAIL and his present book is well up to his usual high standard.

I truly loved reading CUTTING EDGE which was immensely enjoyable but at 320 pages I thought too short as I didn't want it to end. I will definitely look out for further books by this greatly talented British author who now lives and works in Montpelier France. Extremely well recommended.

Terry Halligan, June 2016.

Review: City of Jackals by Parker Bilal

City of Jackals by Parker Bilal, June 2016, 464 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN: 1408864487

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Cairo, December, 2005
The young brother and sister are awake in the tiny sealed room; dark, it smells of oil and dust and they can hear the sounds of daytime Cairo outside. They had been so close to freedom after their escape from the soldiers and the murders. Travelling with just each other, they had reached shelter only to be snatched into this darkness and fear of death – their only hope of exit a small hatch high up in the wall. Jonah urges his sister to climb up on his back towards it. Voices approach and Beatrice manages to haul herself up but as she turns back to reach for her brother the door bursts open. “Run,” he calls out to her, “Run.”
Makana is watching the sky lighten. After another sleepless night he wonders how much longer he can live on this decrepit houseboat. Every bone aches as he smokes a cigarette and considers his latest case: the apparent disappearance of a young engineering student who has not been in touch with his family for three weeks. His thoughts are interrupted by his landlady's daughter who drags him along the river bank to where a fisherman has hooked a grisly catch, a severed head in a sack. Police Inspector Okasha arrives with his posse of uniforms and brings with him the formidable Chief Forensic Officer, Doctora Siham. She pinpoints a scar pattern on the victim's forehead as belonging to one of Makana's fellow Sudanese, although from the South. Okasha remarks that if the victim is from South Sudan he can't see anyone rushing to solve the mystery, the South Sudanese are not popular in Egypt right now, with their protesters encamped in Maidan Square for months, demanding their right to asylum.
Makana returns to his current investigation and visits the university where the missing youth was studying. There, he begins to experience what will become a familiar pattern in this case – hostility and suspicion of his Sudanese origins. He is used to being an outsider in Egypt but now, with international eyes drawn to Darfur, he finds an extra hostility reserved for his being North Sudanese and an oppressor of the South…

Parker Bilal is the crime pseudonym of British-Sudanese writer Jamal Mahjoub who writes fiction and non-fiction under his own name and whose current project is a contemporary history of the North-South Sudanese conflict. CITY OF JACKALS is the fifth novel in his gripping “Makana Mystery” series, set in Egypt in the years leading up to the Arab Spring and featuring Sudanese exile Makana struggling to make a living as a private investigator and battling his own demons that rise from his haunted and hunted past. The titles in the series often conjure Ancient Egyptian iconography and CITY OF JACKALS introduces us to the realm of Anubis, the dog-headed god who prepares his subjects for the underworld – for the life to come. This is Egypt on the brink of revolt, Mubarak has been elected back into power but protest is in the air. Makana's search for the missing student starts to uncover a life unknown to the rest of the young man's family. But at the same time he cannot forget the murdered Sudanese whose head was found in the river and he works to identify the boy and to find his murderer or murderers. The search takes him into the churches, camps and missions of the Sudanese refugees where he encounters Christian missionary zeal alongside open hostility.

In CITY OF JACKALS Makana seems to be at some kind of exhausted cross-roads himself, the consequence of which is a darker, more conflicted atmosphere. The wit is still there but it is more subdued. The hospitable suppers at his favourite restaurant are less frequent. Makana's journalist friend Sami is also adrift – in his marriage and his job; even Makana's eager young helper, Aziza, now in her teens, seems angry at the hopelessness of her ambitions. However Bilal still conjures the living detail of Cairo, the street scenes, smells, vivid, rounded characters and the layers of a crowded city steeped in human machinations, corruption and hope. Bilal's writing remains sure and Makana's investigation sweeps towards an exciting, physically dramatic conclusion – a trademark Makana finish. You must always hang on to your hat when following the determined Makana's chase to the finish, so press that hat firmly on your head and follow him, you won't regret it.

Lynn Harvey, June 2016.

Awards News: The Dead Good Reader Awards 2016 - Shortlists

From the Dead Good Books website, news of the shortlists. You can vote for your favourites via their website. (I think the translated category is new.):

This year over 2,000 of you nominated your favourite books and authors for the Dead Good Reader Awards. We’re thrilled to now be able to unveil your shortlists.

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)
Die of Shame by Mark Billingham (Little Brown)
In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings (Orenda)
The Missing by C L Taylor (Avon)
Tastes Like Fear by Sarah Hilary (Headline)
Untouchable Things by Tara Guha (Legend Press)

The Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series
Jack Reacher, Lee Child (Transworld)
Roy Grace, Peter James (Macmillan)
Marnie Rome, Sarah Hilary (Headline)
Logan McRae, Stuart MacBride (Harper Collins)
Ruth Galloway, Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
George Mackenzie, Marnie Riches (Maze)

The Linwood Barclay Award for Most Surprising Twist
Disclaimer by Renee Knight (Transworld)
The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne (Harper Collins)
I let You Go by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber)
Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton (Transworld)
When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen (Transworld)

The Papercut Award for Best Page Turner
Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay (Orion)
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)
Follow Me by Angela Clarke (Avon)
The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (Bookouture)
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (Vintage)
Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid (Little Brown)

The Hotel Chocolat Award for Darkest Moment
Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris (MIRA)
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood (Sphere)
In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride (Harper Collins)
Little Boy Blue by M J Arlidge (Michael Joseph)
The Teacher by Katerina Diamond (Avon)
Viral by Helen Fitzgerald (Faber & Faber)

The Mörda Award for Captivating Crime in Translation
Camille by Pierre Lemaitre (MacLehose Press)
The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund (Vintage)
The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto (Orenda Books)
I’m Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork (Doubleday)
Nightblind by Ragnar Jonasson (Orenda Books)
The Undesired by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Hodder & Stoughton)

Some 1929 Titles (for Past Offences)

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in June, published in 1929. Here are some British/European crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1929, pulled from my database:

Margery Allingham - The Crime at Black Dudley (apa The Black Dudley Murder)
Anthony Berkeley - The Poisoned Chocolates Case
E M Channon - The Chimney Murder
Agatha Christie - Partners in Crime (Short Stories)
Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery
Clemence Dane - Enter Sir John (with Helen Simpson)
C H B Kitchin - Death of My Aunt
Beryl Symons - The Leering House
Josephine Tey - The Man in the Queue (apa Killer in the Crowd)
Patricia Wentworth - Fool Errant

My list is rather short but there are longer lists in the comments on the Past Offences page.